Cancer News

Follow-Up Tests Often Not Done in Testicular Cancer

-- A. Agrawal, PhD

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Although many men with early stage testicular cancer are managed by surveillance, many do not receive the recommended follow-up testing, according to a study published online Aug. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The researchers found that compliance with post-adjuvant follow-up testing was poor in the surveillance group and worsened with increasing time after diagnosis, with almost 30 percent of patients receiving no abdominal imaging, chest imaging, or tumor marker tests in the first year. Patients who underwent retroperitoneal lymph node dissection were most compliant in the first year. In spite of the poor compliance, recurrence rates were similar to those previously reported in the literature, according to the study.

"Surveillance is a widely accepted strategy in clinical stage I testicular cancer treatment in the community," Yu and colleagues conclude. "However, follow-up care recommendations developed at referral centers are not being adhered to in the community."